Bridge City Comics Release Party

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Another fun announcement today:

On October 14th, from 6PM-9PM, Bridge City Comics is hosting a book release party for Dear Creature. I'll be there signing books, maybe doing some sketches, and hob-nobbing. We'll also have copies of the acclaimed Green River Killer graphic novel from Dark Horse (written by Jeff Jensen and drawn by me), refreshments, and a limited edition print for sale (only 100 copies).

I might even bring some props and costume pieces from the Sea Freak play that started it all. Rest assured, I will not be wearing a costume... If some kid comes up and is like, "WEAR THE MASK", I'll make a game-time call, but I can only be so silly. This is comics. This is serious.

It's all open to the public, so please drop by if you're in Portland. Bridge City Comics is in a great walking neighborhood, full of fun things to do (and eat). Here's the address:

3725 N. Mississippi Ave., Portland, OR 97227

I'm really looking forward to it, and hope to see you there!

T-Minus Two Weeks to Launch

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I have about two weeks before Dear Creature's official release on October 11. Very soon, my book will be out in the world, finding its place. It's an exciting, anxious time. As Sarah and I rearranged some stuff in our house to make way for baby (the latest work, coming in January), I found some old photos from my play, Sea Freak. This is where the concept for my sea monster love story began.

Ah, zee memories... I remember staying up all night before performance day finishing the ocean-proof monster suit. I had to wear it while making it so all the latex scales would conform to my body shape. The best part was my friend and director, Alex Kamer, having the decency to sew the last few scales onto my butt at 6 in the morning. Poor man.

 

 

 

Outfoxed

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Today I want to sing praise for Dylan Meconis's new short comic, Outfoxed. Dylan hit this one out of the park, and I think you should read it. Immediately.

Outfoxed is just what I want out of a comic. Its story is passionate, literate, but told with a light, inviting touch. It quietly demands my attention with a lovely aesthetic, appealing characters, and creative staging.

I've been working near Dylan at Periscope Studio for the last few years, and remember seeing her work on the first pages of her graphic novel, Family Man, shortly after I moved to Portland in 2005. By that time, she'd already finished a graphic novel begun in high school, and was well on her way to intimidating comics creators great and small.

This latest work is further proof that she won't be stopped.

Go read Outfoxed!

Magic Bullet Comic

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Hey, happy campers! If you snagged a copy of Magic Bullet #3 this weekend at SPX or your local comics shop, you probably saw this comic- a brief trip down memory lane from me. It may well be as close as I ever get to an autobio comic. It gives a little insight into the life experience that went into my graphic novel, Dear Creature.

Apparently, some copies of Magic Bullet made it out to some local comic shops (I know a few in Portland, at least), so hunt it down and check out the rest of the work therein!

Green River Killer: Book of the Month and LA Times Coverage

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Today the LA Times ran an interview with Green River Killer writer Jeff Jensen: ‘Green River Killer’: A father and son follow murderer’s trail

Jeff gives a lot of great background on his father's story as a detective on the case, and our journey to bring that to life as a graphic novel.

iFanboy also gave Green River Killer their Book of the Month, along with a great review. Here's an excerpt:

"Because the writer is Detective Jensen’s son there is a strong sense of authenticity to the story. We get a glimpse behind the scenes of a real serial killer investigation, warts and all. In the afterward, Jeff Jensen says that he wrote this story to gain a better understanding of his dad and to express his love for him. Jensen does this, not through hero worship, but through showing the man for who he was: not an oversized hero but an ordinary man who gave up a lot of himself in order to bring the Green River Killer to justice. I imagine that Jeff Jensen felt a great sense of pride in writing this story, but I wonder if there was also some sense of pain in having to lay out, and thus better understand, the series of psychological hardships that his father went through during the investigation.

In addition to the authenticity in the story there is the same feeling of verisimilitude in the art. Jonathan Case provides strong black and white art work that perfectly compliments the story. Green River Killer: A True Detective Story is about people and how the awful acts that we are capable of committing effect not only ourselves and not only those around us, but complete strangers as well. There is a lot of pain and a lot of anguish in this book and it all plays out in the faces of the various characters."

 

Thor Auction Piece

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Periscope Studio is auctioning some original art to support Portland comics professional Dylan Williams with his cancer treatment. I finished my contribution today, and it's now up on Ebay- a watercolor painting of Thor vs. the mighty Galactus (shown here in its color-corrected version).

See all the Periscope auctions here! There's Batwoman, Nightcrawler, Hulk, Wonder Woman, and more.

Green River Killer - Tomorrow!

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Tomorrow, Green River Killer, my book with Jeff Jensen and Dark Horse, comes to comics shops early! Originally, we expected an end-of-September release, so this is a nice surprise.

Also nice: a bunch of great advance praise from people like Stephen King, the LA Times, and other creators...

 

“Terrific. It’s got the scariest opening sequence I’ve read in years, and the novel as a whole makes compelling stay-up-late reading. Great, creepy stuff.” -Stephen King, New York Times best-selling author of The Dark Tower and The Stand

"I finished this book feeling as though I’d read a relentless thriller and a moving memoir: two gifts in one.” -Ken Tucker, Entertainment Weekly.

"Jeff Jensen’s journalistic eye for detail and Jonathan Case’s exquisitely paced visual storytelling combine to make a true-crime epic.” -Brian K. Vaughan, New York Times best-selling writer of Y: The Last Man

 

Whew! Head over to Dark Horse's Advance Praise page for more.

Publishers Weekly Review! GFBR!

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Another positive review is in for Dear Creature, this time from Publishers Weekly! The hard copy should be out today, but you can also read the web version here.

"Startlingly assured for a debut effort, the book is like Grue himself—unclassifiable but oddly charming."

The book also got a great plug over at Giant Fire Breathing Robot:

"Case is talented with both visual art and the written word; his art is some of the best brush pen work around, rich with detail and realism, and his writing, both plot and prose, is brilliant."

Kirkus Reviews on Dear Creature

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Dear Creature just got a fantastic review from Kirkus Reviews. They call it "...a beautiful anomaly..." and "...marvelously entertaining and a weird side-door entry into both Shakespeare and graphic literature..." The reviewer sums it up like this (minor spoiler alert):

"A funny, bizarre, unexpected pleasure that gives a creature from the depths heart and soul as well as a happy ending."

In the unlikely event that you have a Kirkus Reviews account, head over here to read the whole thing. The review will also be available to the public in the September issue.

I feel somewhat bona fide.

Upcoming Dear Creature Events!

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As I move toward my book's release, upcoming events are starting to come together. So far, I'm doing the PNBA Nightcapper event on October 13th, where I'll be signing copies of Dear Creature for local booksellers, and an event at Powell's Books on the 20th of October. As more events pop up on the horizon, I'll add them to my left-hand column over here, and hopefully see you at one of them in the next few months!

I Love the Talking Heads

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Tonight I watched some of the extras on the Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense disc- a film fest conference from 1999, when the movie was restored and rereleased, and David Byrne's wacky self-interview. I'm waiting to re-watch the movie itself for when I can share it with friends... hopefully soon. I think it may be one of the most beautiful things ever caught on camera. Seeing the wild energy and fun they were having, and hearing them talk about being artists who work at their art every day, was a great dose of inspiration. It sounds obvious until you see it lived out and captured as Jonathan Demme did in the movie. They appear to be so ecstatic about the complete weirdness they're creating, it's just a gift to watch it happen. It makes you want to play too.